Skiers, snowboarders, and motorcyclists commonly wear goggles to shield their eyes from sun, wind, and precipitation. Similar concerns by cyclists, in-line skaters, and others engaged in outdoor activities have led to the development and popularity of sports shields, a lighter weight athletic eyewear device typically having a polycarbonate lens which surrounds the eye region of the wearer's head to shield the eyes from sun and wind. Still other athletes wear sports goggles designed for activities such as basketball, soccer, and the like.
Athletic eyewear devices such as those described above offer various features and capabilities tailored to the types of activities for which they are designed. For individuals who enjoy multiple activities, it is not uncommon to own multiple protective eyewear devices corresponding to the different outdoor activities enjoyed by the individual.
While athletic eyewear devices have generally met the needs of users, they have not been entirely satisfactory for individuals who also must wear prescription lenses along with the protective eyewear. The shape and construction of the athletic eyewear devices typically make it impractical for the lenses of those devices to also provide correction for nearsightedness or farsightedness. Wearing a conventional pair of eyeglasses with corrective lenses along with an athletic eyewear device can be awkward or impractical. Attempts to offer custom arrangements for holding corrective lenses within goggles or sports shields have not been entirely satisfactory and, in any event, have required the owner of multiple pairs of protective eyewear to also own multiple pairs of specialized corrective lenses.
Athletic eyewear devices such as those described above are typically designed and intended to provide limited protection from the sun, wind and precipitation. As such, they do not provide protection from impacts as do specially designed safety goggles or similar devices. As used herein, the term "protective eyewear device" includes both athletic eyewear devices and eyewear devices designed to provide impact protection.